Cypress Gardens Goes Black Tie For Flock Of Winter Visitors

Have tux, will travel. A dozen or so nattily dressed visitors are coming to Cypress Gardens for the winter season.

The flock of fledgling Magellanic penguins -- named for explorer Ferdinand Magellan -- will be on loan to Cypress Gardens from San Diego's Sea World.

Sea World avian experts selected the birds from an island off South America and reared them at Sea World in San Diego. During their stay at Cypress Gardens, the flightless birds will make their home in the Fly Free Aviary located in the Animal Forest. Educational programs on penguins will be presented daily through April, when the birds will be returned to San Diego.

The penguin exhibit will be part of Cypress Gardens' winter events, set to premiere Saturday. Also opening will be two new shows: the 10-member ''Southern Ice'' skating revue housed in the refurbished Ice Palace and ''Showstopper and Snow Fliers,'' wherein champion skiers will perform hot- dog stunts from an 88-foot-high ramp -- and land in a pool.

Cypress Gardens is open from 8 a.m. to sunset daily and located east of Winter Haven off U.S. Highway 27 on State Road 540. Admission is $12.95 for age 12 and over, $7.95 for ages 3-11 and free for children age 2 and under. For more information, call the attraction at (305) 351-6606 or (813) 324-2111. Folk-dancing folks. The Frula Dance Company from Yugoslavia will perform Monday through Thursday and Dec. 24-26 at Epcot Center as part of Walt Disney World's International Festival program. The colorfully-costumed folk dancers, who represent the various regions of Yugoslavia, will be appearing in four shows daily -- 3:35, 4:35, 5:35 and 7:15 p.m -- at the America Gardens Theatre stage (in front of the American Adventure showcase) in Epcot's World Showcase. Jai-alai high jinks. Bolivar and his buddies will roll into the Orlando- Seminole fronton Friday night for the opening round of the fifth National Jai-Alai Tournament.

Bolivar, the biggest name in the sport and its dominant player for more than a decade, will head a field of 12 of the world's top pelotari (Spanish, natch, for jai-alai player). For the past two years Bolivar and his backcourt partner, Felix, have won the national title while representing the Palm Beach fronton. They are heavily favored to make it three straight.

Orlando-Seminole's team, Galla and fan-favorite Mendi II, will return for another shot at tournament glory after finishing fourth in last year's event. Mendi II will be playing in the nationals for the fifth consecutive year.

The tournament match (played to 10 points using straight-point scoring) will take place in the 13th game. The tournament players also will see action in three preliminary games (using the normal Spectacular Seven scoring).

Post time for the first game is 7 p.m. A limited number of $2 reserved seats are still available. General admission is $1. Minors are not admitted. The fronton is at State Road 436 and U.S. Highway 17-92 in Fern Park. For more information, call the fronton at (305) 339-6221.